Red Book price basically means nothing IMO. Just because the book says a coin is worth $7, doesn't mean you can find anyone that will give you even $2 for it. Here's an example: the PCGS price guide says that a 1996P half in EF40 condition is worth $1. No one is going to pay you $1 for that coin. You'd be lucky if someone would give you the 50 cents face value.
What circulated clad proof halves, known as
impaired proofs btw, are worth is up for debate. They're worth what someone will pay for them. Period. Supply and demand dictates the price. There doesn't seem to much demand, so supply in this case becomes almost irrelevant. Non-silver proof sets can be bought very cheaply. Why anyone would pay a premium for an impaired proof when they can buy the whole sealed proof set (not impaired) for just a fraction more money baffles me. Still though, when it comes to what sells and the amount it sells for on ebay never ceases to amaze me. I once saw a quart sized ziploc bag of "Genuine Arkansas dirt" sell for $5.95 plus shipping if I remember correctly.
With that said, so far I have kept every impaired proof I have found, so long as it was still in really good shape. The collector in me won't let me NOT keep them. However, when my collection grows to hundreds and hundreds of impaired proofs, I will likely come to my senses and keep 2-3 of the best examples of each date/mintmark for my collection and release the rest. IMO I'm just tying up an amount of cash I could be using to find silver. When that amount becomes a significant amount, I'll either release them for someone else to find, or maybe even go the ebay route and see what happens.
Bottom line...if you like them and want to collect them, then by all means keep them. Don't let anyone, me included, talk you into not keeping coins that you want to keep - regardless of what they are. However, if you're strictly looking for profit, they very well may not be worth the effort.
